Feds using strategy of sexual offenders – DARVO

A defensive strategy known as DARVO frequently used by accused sexual offenders now is employed routinely by federal agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol when they get accused of assaulting and murdering U.S. residents.

The acronym stands for Deny, Attack, and Reverse the Victim and Offender. It shows up in many Title IX cases when students report someone for sexual harassment or assault, and the alleged perpetrator then verbally goes on the attack.

In the current swarm of federal agents indiscriminately injuring, arresting, and murdering people in cities across the country, you’ll spot DARVO. For example, within minutes of federal agents killing Renee Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti in separate incidents this month in Minneapolis, federal spokespeople denied the officers did anything wrong, attacked the victims as “terrorists” who caused their own deaths, and claimed the officers were the ones in danger, not the other way around. Bystander videos in both cases seem to show the opposite.

The person who first described DARVO is a long-time Title IX champion and founder of the Center for Institutional Courage. She appears in two recent video interviews about federal use of DARVO. The first discusses the shooting of Good. The second discusses “betrayal blindness,” institutional betrayal, and institutional courage in our present moment. She also describes President Trump and Vice President Vance using DARVO in this article. Kat Tenbarge of the newsletter Spitfire News also writes here about DARVO being used to smear Minnesotans here.

If you’re interested in DARVO and Prof. Freyd’s insights, I recommend subscribing to the Center for Institutional Courage newsletter, Courage in Action. I also found her 2013 book with Pamela Birrell to be fascinating — Blind to Betrayal: Why We Fool Ourselves We Aren’t Being Fooled.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that President Trump and his hires resort to DARVO. After all, he’s a convicted felon who a jury found guilty of sexual abuse.

Elsewhere

It’s almost here! Now you can pre-order the paperback version of my Title IX history. We tweaked the title for better visibility on the Web — Fifty Years of Title IX: How 37 Words Changed America. Pre-order from Barnes & Noble, or Walmart (I’m as surprised as you are), in bulk from BulkBookstore (who knew?), and probably from your favorite independent bookstore. The book comes out on March 17, 2026.